Marigold

First of the Levantadas - Her story lives only here

She was Ixchel once, a curandera’s granddaughter in the Guatemalan highlands who prayed out loud and meant it. The cartels took her at seventeen, and the road north set out to take everything else: her name, her voice, her God.

Marigold gets no novel. This is the only telling she has, fifteen notes in her own voice, from the warmth of home to the cold of the grave, the whole of how a girl kept her soul through what was done to her and became the keeper of the dead.

Follow on the Substack → Meet the Levantadas

Flower for the Dead

15 Notes — her complete story — three weeks, Mon to Fri — July 20 to August 7, 2026

Marigold has no book to hand off to, so her whole origin lives here: from the day she was taken in the highlands, through the road and the grave, to the threshold of sanctuary where she took her name. First person, retrospective, in her own voice, the warmth of the living girl giving way to the cold of the thing she became. Posts on the Vampires of Tucson Substack.

Week 1 — Home and the Taking